Patents Assigned to Facebook Technologies, LLC
  • Patent number: 11112868
    Abstract: A haptic glove comprises a glove body including a glove digit corresponding to a phalange of a user hand with the glove digit having a bend location that is located along the glove digit. A haptic apparatus is coupled to the glove body at the bend location with the haptic apparatus comprising a plurality of sheets that are flexible and inextensible and a pressure actuator coupled to one or more of the plurality of sheets. The plurality of sheets are stacked and configured to translate relative to each other along the centerline with bending of the glove digit. The pressure actuator is configured to adjust an applied pressure to the plurality of sheets to adjust friction between the sheets. The adjustment of friction is proportional to a bending resistance of the glove digit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 7, 2021
    Assignee: Facebook Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Charles Stewart, Raymond King, Nicholas Roy Corson, Sean Jason Keller
  • Patent number: 11113891
    Abstract: Particular embodiments are directed to a passthrough feature. A computing system may display a virtual-reality scene on a device worn by a user. The system may receive a request to display a visual representation of at least a portion of a physical environment surrounding the user. The system may access data associated with the physical environment captured by camera(s) of the device. The system may generate, based the data, depth measurements of one or more objects in the physical environment. The system may generate, based on the depth measurements, one or more models of the one or more objects in the physical environment. The system may render an image based on a viewpoint of the user and the one or more models and, based on the image, generate the visual representation requested by the user. The visual representation may then be displayed with the virtual-reality scene to the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 7, 2021
    Assignee: Facebook Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Gioacchino Noris, Jeng-Weei Lin
  • Patent number: 11113880
    Abstract: Particular embodiments described herein present a technique for mesh simplification. A computing system may receive a request to render an image of a virtual scene including a virtual object. The system may determine one or more positions of the virtual object relative to one or more of a foveal focus point or a lens, respectively. The system may determine a screen coverage size of the virtual object. The system may then determine a simplification level for the virtual object based on the determined position(s) and the screen coverage size of the virtual object. The system may generate a mesh representation of the virtual object based on the determined simplification level, where the number of polygons used in the mesh representation depends on the determined simplification level. The system may render the image of the virtual scene using at least the generated mesh representation of the virtual object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 22, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 7, 2021
    Assignee: Facebook Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Pierre-Antoine Benoit LaFayette, Rémi Palandri
  • Patent number: 11112607
    Abstract: The disclosed apparatus may include a waveguide configuration that may include (1) a coupling area having at least one coupling element configured to receive a plurality of monochromatic images, where each of the monochromatic images is of a predetermined wavelength of light, (2) a propagation area in which light, received via the at least one coupling element, moves within a length of the waveguide configuration, and (3) a decoupling area that extends along the propagation area and includes decoupling elements that project a polychromatic image toward an eyebox, where the polychromatic image includes the monochromatic images of the predetermined wavelengths of light. Associated systems and devices are also provided herein.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 11, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 7, 2021
    Assignee: Facebook Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Nicholas Daniel Trail, Pasi Saarikko
  • Patent number: 11114002
    Abstract: A waveguide display includes a source assembly, an output waveguide, and a controller. The source assembly includes a light source and an optics system. The light source includes source elements arranged in a 1D or 2D array that emit image light. The optics system includes a scanning mirror assembly that scans the image light to particular locations based on scanning instructions. The output waveguide receives the scanned image light from the scanning mirror assembly and outputs an expanded image light. In some embodiments, the waveguide display includes a source waveguide and the 1D array of source elements. The source waveguide receives a conditioned image light from the source assembly. The controller generates the scanning instructions and provides the scanning instructions to the scanning mirror assembly. In some embodiments, the controller provides the scanning instructions to an actuator assembly of the source waveguide.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 22, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 7, 2021
    Assignee: Facebook Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Wanli Chi, Pasi Saarikko, Hee Yoon Lee
  • Patent number: 11115155
    Abstract: Disclosed herein includes a system, a method, and a device for prioritizing packet retransmission. A transmitting device can insert, for each packet of a plurality of packets of a video frame, a sequence number indicative of an order of the corresponding packet among the plurality of packets, into a header of the corresponding packet according to an application layer protocol. The transmitting device can transmit to the receiving device, at a first level of priority, the plurality of packets including the corresponding inserted sequence numbers. The transmitting device can receive an identification of one or more packets to be retransmitted to the receiving device, the identification based on at least the inserted sequence numbers of the one or more packets. The transmitting device can retransmit the one or more packets at a second level of priority that is higher than the first level of priority.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 9, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 7, 2021
    Assignee: Facebook Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Behnam Bastani, Xiaoguang Wang, Gang Lu
  • Patent number: 11113794
    Abstract: In one embodiment, a computing system may receive current eye-tracking data associated with a user of a head-mounted display. The system may dynamically adjust a focal length of the head-mounted display based on the current eye-tracking data. The system may generate an in-focus image of a scene and a corresponding depth map of the scene. The system may generate a circle-of-confusion map for the scene based on the depth map. The circle-of-confusion map encodes a desired focal surface in the scene. The system may generate, using a machine-learning model, an output image with a synthesized defocus-blur effect by processing the in-focus image, the corresponding depth map, and the circle-of-confusion map of the scene. The system may display the output image with the synthesized defocus-blur effect to the user via the head-mounted display having the adjusted focal length.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 7, 2021
    Assignee: Facebook Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Douglas Robert Lanman, Matthew Steven Chapman, Alexander Jobe Fix, Anton S. Kaplanyan, Lei Xiao
  • Patent number: 11113867
    Abstract: In one embodiment, a method includes generating rays for casting into an artificial reality scene that includes one or more surfaces to determine whether the one or more surfaces are visible from a viewpoint. The method includes determining points of intersection between the rays and the one or more surfaces. The method includes determining, based on the points of intersection, color values corresponding to output positions of a display system. The method includes accessing brightness adjustment data corresponding to the output positions of the display system. The brightness adjustment data are determined based on one or more characteristics of the display system. The method includes applying one or more brightness adjustments to the color values based on the brightness adjustment data. The method includes providing the color values for display at the corresponding output positions of the display system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 7, 2021
    Assignee: Facebook Technologies, LLC
    Inventor: Larry Seiler
  • Patent number: 11114952
    Abstract: A device, such as an electroactive device, may include primary electrode and a secondary electrode overlapping at least a portion of the primary electrode. An electroactive polymer element may include a composite polymer material and is disposed between and abuts each of the primary electrode and the secondary electrode. A phase change or other deformable medium such as a liquid, a gas, or a liquid-gas mixture may be disposed as inclusions within the polymer material. The device can be actuated by the application of a voltage between the electrodes and the attendant formation of a Maxwell stress, exposing the deformable medium to a source of radiation, changing a pressure of the deformable medium, or changing a temperature of the deformable medium, e.g., about a phase transformation temperature of the phase change medium.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 7, 2021
    Assignee: Facebook Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Thomas Wallin, Austin Lane, Christopher Yuan Ting Liao, Jack Lindsay, Tanya Malhotra, Andrew John Ouderkirk, Katherine Marie Smyth, Yigit Mengue
  • Patent number: 11113859
    Abstract: Disclosed herein includes a system, a method, and a non-transitory computer readable medium for rendering a three-dimensional (3D) model of an avatar according to an audio stream including a vocal output of a person and image data capturing a face of the person. In one aspect, phonemes of the vocal output are predicted according to the audio stream, and the predicted phonemes of the vocal output are translated into visemes. In one aspect, a plurality of blendshapes and corresponding weights are determined, according to the corresponding image data of the face, to form the 3D model of the avatar of the person. The visemes may be combined with the 3D model of the avatar to form a 3D representation of the avatar, by synchronizing the visemes with the 3D model of the avatar in time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 10, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 7, 2021
    Assignee: Facebook Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Tong Xiao, Sidi Fu, Mengqian Liu, Peihong Guo, Shu Liang, Evgeny Zatepyakin
  • Patent number: 11112606
    Abstract: A head-mounted display (HMD) including multiple layered display panels. The HMD may include a first display panel to display a first image, and a second display panel positioned in front of the first display panel to at least partially overlap with the first display panel. The second display panel may include a display substrate, and a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs) positioned on the display substrate. The plurality of LEDs display a second image. The display substrate and the plurality of LEDs are transparent for the first image to be visible through the second display panel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 7, 2021
    Assignee: Facebook Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Christopher Percival, Yusufu Njoni Bamaxam Sulai
  • Patent number: 11107948
    Abstract: A method and system for assembling a device by picking up semiconductor devices from a carrier substrate and placing the semiconductor devices onto a target substrate. The transfer of the semiconductor devices uses fluid as a transfer medium. The fluid enters a fluid channel of a pickup head, causing the pickup head to expand, make contact with, and attach to an aligned semiconductor device. After the semiconductor device is aligned with and placed onto the target substrate, at least a portion of the fluid is removed from the pickup head to release the semiconductor device onto the target substrate. The semiconductor device bonds to the target substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2021
    Assignee: Facebook Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Yigit Menguc, Pooya Saketi, Thomas John Farrell Wallin, Nicholas Roy Corson, Ali Sengül, Katherine Healy, Oscar Torrents Abad, Daniel Brodoceanu, Robert Manson, Leif-Erik Sharif Simonsen, Remi Alain Delille
  • Patent number: 11106276
    Abstract: A virtual reality (VR) headset adjusts the phase of light of a virtual scene received from a display element using a spatial light modulator (SLM) to accommodate changes in vergence for a user viewing objects in the virtual scene. The VR headset receives virtual scene data that includes depth information for components of the virtual scene and the SLM adjusts a wavefront of the light of the virtual scene by generating a phase function that adjusts the light of the virtual scene with phase delays based the depth values. Individual phase delays shift components of the virtual scene based on the depth values to a target focal plane to accommodate a user at a vergence depth for a frame of the virtual scene. Further, the SLM can provide optical defocus by shifting components of the virtual scene with the phase delays for depth of field blur.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2021
    Assignee: Facebook Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Douglas Robert Lanman, Alexander Jobe Fix, Nathan Seigo Matsuda, Nicholas Daniel Trail
  • Patent number: 11108977
    Abstract: An eye is illuminated with a first non-visible light wavelength and a second non-visible light wavelength. A first ocular image is captured from first reflected light having the first non-visible light wavelength and a second ocular image is captured from second reflected light having the second non-visible light wavelength.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 20, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2021
    Assignee: Facebook Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Robin Sharma, Andrew John Ouderkirk, Qi Zhang, Christopher Yuan-Ting Liao, Karol Constantine Hatzilias
  • Patent number: 11103892
    Abstract: An initiated chemical vapor deposition (i-CVD) method for forming a nanovoided polymeric material may include heating a mixture including a gaseous monomer, a gaseous polymerization initiator, and a solvent to form a polymeric thin film including the solvent and removing the solvent from the polymeric thin film to form a nanovoided thin film. Devices, including dielectric elastomer actuators, may be formed using the nanovoided polymeric material. Various other methods, systems, apparatuses, and materials are also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2021
    Assignee: Facebook Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Christopher Yuan Ting Liao, Andrew John Ouderkirk
  • Patent number: 11107972
    Abstract: An optical element includes a nanovoided polymer layer having a first refractive index in an unactuated state and a second refractive index different than the first refractive index in an actuated state. Compression or expansion of the nanovoided polymer layer, for instance, can be used to reversibly control the size and shape of the nanovoids within the polymer layer and hence tune its refractive index over a range of values, e.g., during operation of the optical element. Various other apparatuses, systems, materials, and methods are also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2021
    Assignee: Facebook Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Kenneth Diest, Andrew John Ouderkirk, Robin Sharma, Tanya Malhotra, Barry David Silverstein, Christopher Yuan Ting Liao, Erik Shipton, Gregory Olegovic Andreev
  • Patent number: 11107280
    Abstract: In one embodiment, a method includes by one or more computing devices, accessing an image including a hand of a user of a head-mounted display. The method includes generating, from at least the image, a virtual object representation of the hand. The virtual object representation is defined in a virtual environment. The method includes rendering, based on the virtual object representation and at least one other virtual object in the virtual environment, an image of the virtual environment from a viewpoint of the user. The image includes a set of pixels that corresponds to a portion of the virtual object representation that is visible from the viewpoint of the user. The method includes providing, to a set of light emitters of the head-mounted display, instructions to display the image. The set of pixels in the image causes the light emitters at one or more positions to be unilluminated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2021
    Assignee: Facebook Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Steve John Clohset, Warren Andrew Hunt
  • Patent number: 11109030
    Abstract: In one embodiment, a computing system may access a first set of pixel values of an image having a bit depth. The first set of pixel values includes a first subset and a second subset. Each pixel value in the first subset is less than each pixel value in the second subset. The computing system may further determine an overflow range based on a pixel value overflow associated with the bit depth. The overflow range covers a second set of pixel values, which includes (1) the second subset and (2) an overflow representation of the first subset. In response to determining that the overflow range is less than a range covering the first set of pixel values, the computer system may then generate quantization levels corresponding to the overflow range and associate each pixel value of the second set of pixel values with one of the quantization levels.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 14, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2021
    Assignee: Facebook Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Seokhoon Kim, Cheng Chang, Zhi Zhou
  • Patent number: 11099639
    Abstract: The disclosed computer-implemented method may include transmitting a first signal by a first antenna element included in a head mounted display system, analyzing the second signal to determine multidimensional data for the second signal, comparing the multidimensional data for the second signal to known multidimensional data related to positions of a gaze of an eye of a user in the head mounted display system, identifying a position of a gaze for an eye of a user in the head mounted display system based on the comparison, and adjusting image data for display on a display device included in the head mounted display system based on the identified position of the gaze of the eye of the user. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 24, 2021
    Assignee: Facebook Technologies, LLC
    Inventor: Ahmad Byagowi
  • Patent number: 11099638
    Abstract: A system includes processing circuitry configured to receive sensor data regarding a user operating a head mounted display (HMD). The processing circuitry is configured to identify a plurality of reference points of a pose of the user based at least on the sensor data. The processing circuitry is configured to apply one or more models to the plurality of reference points to determine a type of the pose of the user. The processing circuitry is configured to select a mode of operation of the HMD responsive to the type of the pose.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 24, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 24, 2021
    Assignee: Facebook Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Samuel Alan Johnson, Mahdi Salmani Rahimi